Meigs, Georgia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Meigs, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Meigs lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Meigs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Meigs — the short answer
Meigs, Georgia: USDA zone 9a, about 304 days between hard freezes, across 996 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 9
- Thomas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Thomas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~304
- Thomas County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 996 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Thomas County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Meigs's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Meigs's 304-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Meigs
Each reading below is measured for Meigs itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMeigs runs about 304 days between hard freezes (read from Thomas County, the closest normal to Meigs) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredMeigs sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Meigs is in
Meigs sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Meigs's own centroid rather than borrowed from Thomas County.
What Grows in Meigs
Every plant below cleared Meigs's own zone 9a and its 304-day season. Each card opens that plant's Georgia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Meigs?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
What's on the federal record near Meigs
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Meigs. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 13G006Nitrate · 300 ft
- RECYCLABLE RESOURCES INCBrownfields · 700 ft
- MEIGS FOOD MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- ADENS MINIT MARKET #50Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- STOLLER CHEMICAL/PELHAM PHOSPHATE CO.Toxics Release Inventory · 2500 ft
- MEIGS STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- PELHAM PHOSPHATEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- TRIANGLE GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- FLASH FOODS #281Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- GAUTHIER GROUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- AT&TUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- 13G001Nitrate · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Meigs's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Meigs.
Total Sites
87
within ~10 miles of Meigs
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Meigs
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Meigs
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Meigs, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 55 sites within ~10 miles of Meigs. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Meigs
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Meigs average
Your land is one point inside Meigs
Everything above resolves to Meigs as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 996 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Thomas County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at city scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Meigs Average
Meigs Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Meigs
- ●One soil character for all of Meigs
- ●Frost dates read at Meigs's scale: Feb 9 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Meigs's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Meigs
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Meigs, Georgia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Meigs averages can't show:
We read public map data around Meigs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Meigs average
How we know this about Meigs
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Thomas County’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Meigs
When does frost risk typically end in Meigs?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Meigs typically lands around Feb 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Mar 2.
When is the first frost in Meigs?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Meigs typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 304 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Meigs?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Meigs sees about 304 frost-free days — roughly Feb 9 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 2 to Nov 26, about 269 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Meigs?
The federal record around Meigs is a meaningful one — 87 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (55), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Meigs?
From about Nov 10 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Dec 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Dec 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Meigs's scale — its 9a band and its 304-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Meigs's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Meigs’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Meigs's own scale — the 996 acres it covers and 87 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Meigs's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 87 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Meigs, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Meigs's boundary and the 996 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~304-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Meigs's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Meigs has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Thomas County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Meigs's 996 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Thomas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Thomas County
- The growing challenges every Georgia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Georgia
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Thomas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Meigs's 996 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Meigs you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 996 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Meigs-wide figureread your own land →
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